The Trial We Face
by ILuvWerehog13
Summary: Title pending. In a world like this, each trial we face always has a solution. Whether you're a Beast who lost someone dear, A Traveler of Time who wants to change history, a Soldier who lost all memories, a Hero who is bored out of his life, or their Friends who want to help them in any way they can... Rated T for stuffs I may put here like swearing, etc...
1. Prologue - The First Two Trials

**Please read and review. :)**

* * *

**Prologue - The First Two Trials**

A sense of defeat...

...broken pride...

...and feelings of regret...

...aside from his physical injuries, these make the journey for the beast more shameful and disappointing.

Shameful, as he failed to save what he is supposed to protect for his dear life.

Disappointing, as the one who made him feel this way is someone whom he never thought of winning against him...

...well, until now, that is.

The beast staggers his way forward, his right hand covers his left arm that became soaked in his own blood. A few patches of his midnight-blue fur has been charred by the explosions he experienced. His face is painted with expression of regret, defeat, and rage.

His overall appearance can be compared to that of a soldier who just lost not just a war, but a few comrades as well.

And, in his case, his "parents".

He shook of his head as he started to feel drops of rain collide to his fur. He tried to look up and saw that it has started to rain, yet he continue moving forward.

Where was he going? He didn't know...but one thing is for sure.

He needed help.

But from who?

The beast continued to stagger until he made a small misstep. He tripped as his body slams down on the ground hard.

He can't give up here...he just can't. He needs to save them, but his eyes are starting feel heavy.

Before he finally fainted, he look up and saw a lone figure wearing a hooded robe, looking at him directly with his whole face covered. He had no choice. He reached him using all of his strength and said...

"Help me..."

As his hand hits the ground with a thud, the figure smiled at him, saying his name...

"Hello...Sonic the Werehog."

* * *

Werehog's eyelids are heavy for unknown reasons, but he tried to open them up anyway. His eyes were greeted by the pouring rain in the scenery. He wondered a moment why is he a bit dry until he looked up and saw a that he was under a giant tree. His bulky body leans on what it seems to be the biggest tree he had ever seen in his whole life. He tried to get up, only to feel hurt and sat back down again. He sighed. He needs to move. He NEEDS to save them. But where is he?

"RIBBIT!"

Werehog almost jumped by the sudden croaking he had heard. He then looked around and realize that there was a giant green frog right beside him, eyeing him suspiciously with those eyes. He thought it was probably friendly but he kept his distance just to be sure...frogs this size can probably eat him alive...or dead, who knows.

"Giant...f-frogs...", he said weakly as he realized where he is.

Frog Forest. That's right...

He was escaping for his life after his defeat. He used one of the portals to help him. This is probably one of the destinations set...

He looked around more and saw a few more giant frogs frolicking in the rain, while a group of green frogs were croaking in chorus, kinda like they're singing. In fact, it sounds like they're singing. The haunting yet peaceful melody created by these frogs are enough for Werehog to stay still for a while. This gives him time to inspect how badly damaged he really is.

To his surprise, he saw that he was already okay.

Well, kinda.

He saw a bloodied bandage covering his left arm already and most of the charred patches of fur is covered with patches of aloe vera, which kinda stings, now that he noticed them. Speaking of noticing, he had something in his mouth that he had been chewing instinctivly for quite a while. It was hard and cold...

...like ice. He didn't spit it out though, it really helps him feel calm. Eventually, he cracked the ice only to taste another flavor in his mouth. It was kinda sweet and fruity...like an orange? He didn't know, and he really didn't mind at this point.

What he DID mind is his condition. Sure, he was patched up quite fine and he was complaining, but who could have done it? He knew the frogs aren't that intelligent so who...?

"Ah! You're awake."

Werehog slowly reacted to the new voice, looking at him directly after a few seconds. The new voice was owned by the same guy in robes he saw earlier. This time, his whole face is shown.

He's a gray wolf Mobian, probably a young one. A small patch of fur on his hair had been dyed blue, for some reasons. He has an innocent yet brave blue eyes and a melancholic smile. He also wears a necklace of a Mobini dog.

"I thought you being dead for a second made your brain rot, Werehog. Hehehe...". He said with the same melancholic smile on his face. Werehog was just staring at him with a question in mind.

"Who are you?"

He asked. He asked and by a split second, he saw the young wolf's smile wavered a bit before answering him with another melancholic smile.

"Right now, I think it's best if you don't know..."

Werehog gave him a weird look, which the young one laugh at.

"HAHAHA...man, that face is cute! Promise me, if you survived this ordeal and..."

The young one stopped at his tracks, realizing what he said and let out a huge sigh.

"I think I said too much, huh?"

"Probably...", Werehog muttered, letting out a huge yawn afterwards, which the wolf chuckled at, which annoyed the Werehog but something about what he said made him wonder.

'Survived? Ordeal? What the hell is he talking about...', He thought, suspecting the living hell out of the wolf again but can't focus as his eyes began to feel heavy for some reasons. The young one notices this and calmly smiled to him.

"Y'know...the bandages and stuffs aren't the only thing I did to you..."

The young one said, but now with a mischievous grin on his face.

"So I'm assuming you like my fruit-flavored liquid sleep medicine?"

Werehog was confused at what he said at first, but then he remembered.

'The ice...it has...it has...'

His head is getting heavy by the minute, and shaking it is no use. The croaking of the frogs began to seem distant.

"Damn you.", Werehog said as he began to feel drowsy. The wolf only chuckled. Something was off with his laugh but Werehog has other problems...namely this and his former ordeals.

He shook his head, somehow. This is bad. Really bad. He can't sleep again. Who knows what he's doing to them. Who knows what will happen to Earth itself.

He looked at him once again, wearing the face that expresses betrayal. But what he saw on the young one's face before the sleeping drug won was different from what he expected...

* * *

Tears seems to flow on his face as he cried softly...

"This is...for the best...right?", he said as he looked painfully at the peaceful beast sleeping softly under the giant tree. His position reminds him of one of the stuffed teddy bears he once had leaning on the walls of his bedroom.

"This...would not...k-ki-", he choked saying the last word, releasing the sadness he was hiding from the moment he saw him fainted in the road. Tears falling down like the rain around him which is noticeably getting weaker.

A few minutes, he wiped his tears, obviously trying to steel himself up. The rainclouds finally gave way for the sun to shine. The chorus of frogs finally dispersed and began to swim towards the nearby river.

He then moved away from the beast and into the open marsh, soaking on some sunlight, something he has not seen for a long time.

He smiled lightly, letting out a sigh of relief, before looking back at the peaceful Werehog sleeping.

"Don't worry, Werehog...", he said as he looked back at the sky and saw the shadow of a familiar plane, making the young wolf smile and laugh.

"Help is on the way."

* * *

**So...it's been a while since I wrote something, here's my new story. Hopefully, I'll see this till the end. My schedule is a bit tight, so don't expect any fast updates. Please review so that I can improve my writing skills. So, that's all. See you in a month...or so. :p**


	2. Chapter 1 - Calm Before the Storm

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. are owned by Sega. The wolf and story is mine, though. :P**

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Calm Before the Storm**

The sun continues to shine bright in the peaceful Frog Forest, where frogs of all sizes frolic around the bountiful forest. In the middle of a clearing, one can see the infamous bi-plane of a certain fox: the Tornado, neatly parked and abandoned.

A set of footprint from the plane going directly to the swampy scenery can be seen...

* * *

"Are we there yet? This thing's really slow..."

"Sonic...", Tails complained as his so-called big brother asked him the same thing for the nth time. He can't really say something though, these frogs don't move as fast as what Sonic wanted, and he is still far away from the weird signal.

"Cut Tails some slack, Sonic, and just relax, okay?", Amy suggested while trying to hold on the frog for her dear life along with Cream. Her trusted companion, Cheese, is with Big on another giant frog.

"Sonic's right though, Amy. I need to go back to the Emerald, who knows what happened to it...", Knuckles worriedly said as he crossed his arms, his face displaying annoyance more than Blue.

"Come on, it's not like anyone would steal the emerald..." Sonic said, harboring a mischievous grin, as he was playing with a leaf he found.

"Eggman had gone missing after the Lost Hex thingy, and Rouge is still looking for him for who knows how long so I don't really know what's the reason you're being overprotective again with that big rock, knucklehead."

"WHY YOU-"

"Guys, guys, please stop! I know everyone's really bored, and angry, right now, but I swear we are REALLY close to the weird signal, so can we please just settle down?", Tails pleadingly asked to his friends, in which all of them silently complied.

The fox kit sighed and stared blankly at his Miles Electric. A radar can be seen in its screen, detecting a certain energy signal a few miles from their direction.

Just when the kit thought he could rest after what happened at the Lost Hex, now comes an even greater problem.

Just last night, a strong earthquake hit Central City, the place where Tails' Workshop is.

It was weird for Tails because:

1\. There are no faults near Central City, and

2\. The same thing happened to different parts of the world, all in the same time and in the same magnitude.

What makes things worse is that Sonic's bracelet had been reacting right after the earthquake, which means one thing...

"Tails, are you sure this earthquake has something to do with Light Gaia?", Amy asked to the fox as he only nodded in response, making the situation they are in a bit grim.

Light Gaia a.k.a. Chip is one of the protectors of the world, and a good friend of Sonic, Tails and Amy. With Sonic's bracelet, which was originally Chip's choker, reacting violently, it only means trouble...big trouble.

The reason of them going here, Frog Forest, is to figure out what actually happened by locating a weird energy signal Tails found after scouting a few areas, finding one moving at a slow pace and eventually stopping here, hoping for some clues. They managed to make Knuckles join the group as he, too, had a problem.

The Master Emerald had been wonky since last night and Knuckles apparently had no clue what happened. When Tails contacted him early morning, he realized about the earthquake and he supposedly, and magically, connected it to his treasure and decided to join them. That, and he's bored, since Rouge is gone looking for **him** and everything is mostly peaceful before the earthquake.

Big also had a problem, albeit small, ironically. Last night, Big's best friend, Froggy had gone missing while taking a quick nap in Mystic Ruins. He initially asked Amy for help, and in perfect time, as Amy wanted to ask Big to help them traverse the swampy part of Frog Forest per Tails' request. Big accepted the request, and in return, they will help him find Froggy.

Cream wanted to join Amy, out of her own accord. Although she knew it would be unsafe, she decided to let her join after having Vanilla's consent...

And now here we are, with the six heroes riding giant green frogs traversing the swampy greenery at the speed of a common pedestrian (something Sonic hates...), since they have to traverse a thick swamp. Also, the swamp is '5 Sonics deep' according to Big, which made the whole trip feel much worse for the blue hedgehog.

The slow journey was quiet and uneventful, until an alarming beeping sound created a ruckus that made them instinctively look at Tails.

"Guys...", Tails faced them with determination in his eyes. Behind him is something that made their eyes go wide.

"...we're finally here."

* * *

It was a sight to behold for the group. In front of them was the largest and tallest tree they have ever seen!

It was enough to fill out 1/3 of Central City with its wide diameter that reached miles. Even if they were a few meters away from the base, it still made them feel tiny. The huge roots of the said tree are humongous as well, making the surrounding feels like a nature-made playground.

"How come we missed this place when we were kicking Metal Sonic's butt before?", Sonic asked as Cream, Big and Amy petted the frogs goodbye. Knuckles searched the area around them as Tails was already a few steps away.

"And they will come back, right?"

"Well, with the dense swamp surrounding it, no wonder. And yeah, they'll come back as long as Big calls them again.", Tails said as he flew up, trying to scout the area.

"This tree is so big though, how could we search for that weird signal?", Amy asked as she, too, scouted the area.

"How about we split up? It always works...", Knuckles suggested as he turned a large stone over, as he had nothing to do.

"What if something attacks us? What then?", Amy asked as she popped out her hammer out of nowhere.

"Don't worry.", Big cheerfully said while petting a few small frogs. Knuckles heard a distinct sound somewhere in the east. Since he thought that they are still busy talking, he headed in that direction as discrete as possible.

"These guys said that no one will attack us here."

This statement made the group a bit relieved. Big may be lacking in the brains department, but his presence really gave out comfort for some, annoyance for most.

"Well, I guess it's okay then to split up. So, here's the plan. Knuckles will...Knuckles?", Tails said as he looked around for Knuckles, but he was no where to be seen.

"Weird, where did the knucklehead go?", Sonic said as he, too, wondered along with the rest.

"Well, he probably searched somewhere else then...

Anyway, here's the plan."

* * *

Amy walked alone with her trusted Piko-Piko Hammer in her hand and an annoyed look on her face. Her reason?

"ARGH! It's MY chance to be with Sonic in this peaceful and...kinda romantic place but nooo, he has to suggest going to the other way since Knuckles is missing. Oh, why is Knuckles missing anyway?"

Amy's voice trailed out as she remembered the plan Tails told them.

Since Knuckles had gone MIA, the two hedgehogs has to go on separate ways to cover more ground while Tails goes to search at the treetop. Cream and Big stays at the starting point to search for Froggy, but in reality is a distraction to make sure Cream won't follow them...

"Just to be sure.", Tails added, and it made Amy worry less about her and more about herself. Sure, Big said there won't be any enemies around here but something tells her that someone is here...

_Man, women and their intuitions..._

As she was walking cautiously around the huge roots of the tree, she cannot help but adore the whole scenery. Setting aside the method of getting here, this place would really be a good picnic spot or something. It was so serene and gave her that refreshing vibe, like going home after a long day of fighting robots.

Then it hit her.

No, it's not a thought, it's not a frog, but a Mobian.

Amy was taken aback when a seemingly mysterious robed Mobian bumped into her. The force was strong enough for her to land on her behind while the hooded guy slammed into the ground in his side.

"Damn it...", the guy whispers as he tried to stand up and shook off the dirt in his cloak.

"Argh...I knew carrying that big lug from the main land to here would be a bad idea...", he whispered to himself as he stretched his back and then some. He tried to run away from that short mishap but Amy has other plans for him...

Amy suddenly stood up like nothing happened and, with her hammer on her hand, started to scream at the top of her lungs.

"HEY! Why did you bumped into me? What's you big deal?", Amy started to rant loud enough for him to notice. Another thing he noticed is a small shock in the ground coming from the east.

'Great, it's here...', He thought as he took a glance at the angry pink hedgehog coming towards him. 'She hasn't noticed yet. What a surprise...'

He has no time for her, he thought. He needed to find that guy, fast or else. He started to walk away from the pink hedgehog when Amy shouted at him.

"HEY YOU!", The guy sighed and faced her and at the moment he realized that a speedy hammer is being hurled towards him.

Time seems to have been slowed as the hammer closes in to the mysterious Mobian every second, and the only thing he knows is that...

...he **HAS** to survive this... or the **first victim** will sleep earlier than he expected...

* * *

On the other hand, Sonic and Tails are traversing around the giant tree slowly, still searching for the weird energy signal.

"Tails, are you sure that thing isn't above us or something?", Sonic said as to get the conversation started since both of them haven't said anything since Tails went down on his location.

"Yeah, I'm sure. The signal up there is a bit weaker than in here and even if it DID came from up there it will fall down eventually because of the strong shocks...", Tails said while tinkering at his machine. They walked for a few seconds before Sonic realized something...

"...Shocks...?", Sonic asked as Tails nodded.

"Are you sure about that? It's probably just Amy pounding her hammer against the ground or something..."

"I'm sure Amy's not the cause. The source of the shock is coming at the east..."

"Which is where Amy is right now..."

"...and is miles away from here. Look.", Tails said as he showed his device to Sonic, even though Tails knew that he wouldn't understand it.

"Okay, okay, I get. So...uh...do you know where Knux is right now?"

"Not a clue. Hopefully, he's okay..."

"I'm sure he's okay, he's Knuckles, remember? The guy punches rocks for breakfast.", Tails only laughed at the response and Sonic laughed along with him.

A few minutes of traversing the natural obstacle course and they finally reached their destination. The only problem is...

"What are we supposed to look for again?", Sonic asked as he was looked at the clouds, silently thanking that the rain already stopped a few hours ago or else they'll be traversing this whole swamp wet.

"I'm...not really sure...let's just look for something weird-looking, okay?"

And search they did, clueless about what are they even looking for. In the end, Sonic found a weird chunk of fallen leaves of various colors hiding something purplish.

"Tails! I think I found something!", Sonic shouted as Tails went to his direction quickly. The foliage seems to move a bit and a growl is heard underneath it but the blue hedgehog haven't noticed it.

"Um...Sonic that's just leaves...", Tails said, as he disappointingly looked at the bunch of leaves in front of him

"Nuh-uh, look!", Sonic said as he sweep the leaves with a smile, but when he looked at what's underneath, both were surprised and scared them at the same time.

Not that it's scary or anything, they're scared because the beast being here just confirms that they were right...

"Chip really is in trouble...", Tails said as the beast groggily woke up, rubbed his eye, and stared them for a good while. No one had reacted for a few good minutes until Sonic did...

"Me?"

* * *

Meanwhile...

"Sonic...Tails...", Amy said, running towards the duo's location with a hammer in tow, her face expresses fear, for some reason. If that guy was right, then she must hurry.

At the same time, Big and Cream are heading in there as well as they were worried about Amy. They left their positions with a smile on their faces, unaware of what's happening.

In the other side, the mysterious Mobian runs towards the east using an ice platform he himself had created to traverse the swamp. His face shows determination to prevent something. Something that will endanger everyone's lives. He looked back to where he came from.

'I already told her what to do. Hopefully she does it...or else.', he thought as he jumped, landing at the main land. A few tracks of shoes are seen...

"Let this wretched play's first chapter...

...begin."

* * *

**A/N: Well, here's chapter 2, although it did took a while, like a 'few months' while. I will try to update much faster, but problems arise most of the time so it might not be that much. Also, there's a fight scene next chapter, so it will take longer than before.**

**Also, I think made the characters a bit OOC, so sorry if I did.**

**Like always, please read and review. I appreciate it. :)**


End file.
